The demand for 'always on', high-speed Internet
access at reduced costs has contributed to the accelerating
popularity of broadband services. Today's mobile society
finds comfort in being able to watch whatever it wants,
whenever it wants. View-on-demand TV programmes and movies
are now easier accessed and downloaded via broadband Internet
and the always on connection will allow users to spend
longer time engaging in their favourite online activities.
Broadband, also known as 'the fat pipe', allows the Internet
to be seen as a source of reference just as a book or
newspaper would because of its availability and speed
of accessibility. It is no wonder then why more content
providers are shifting their focus to content and services
for broadband subscribers.
While residential broadband access has been
a bit slow to take off globally, the technology and its
potential uses and returns are encouraging companies to
invest heavily in this technology. One application that
is offering a chance for healthy revenue is streaming
video. Net users can now watch TV programmes, music video
clips, movies, live events and even participate in a virtual
classroom by connecting to a host World Wide Web site.
Online multi-player games, which are a favourite amongst
Internet users of all ages, can also be turned into a
revenue generator as users can be charged on pay-per-play
or subscription basis. Sony and Electronic Arts have already
paved the way by demonstrating a subscription model that
can succeed on the web.
However, prophecies of broadband finally bringing
about the convergence of PCs and TVs in a single device
are not exactly happening as imagined. While consumers
might be more than happy to pay for interactive TV-applications
for instance, Internet users, who are not accustomed to
paying for online content, may hesitate in paying to watch
movies and videos online. This is a problem because applications
offered over the Internet face open standards and higher
costs. For example, a web site host for sites with broadband
content may put a bandwidth limit on its packages to make
the overall load on the hosting web server manageable.
If sites subscribing to the package decide to offer media
such as streaming video, then the load to the host server
increases dramatically. To avoid such cases, once a site
exceeds the bandwidth limit, the host will either shut
it down or have it fined. Naturally, hosting packages
with larger bandwidth allowances costs more, which may
make it necessary for content providers to charge for
its content.
While there are still many Internet users
out there who do not have access to broadband services,
there are enough users to justify adding broadband content
added to sites. To be able to please all Internet users
all the time, many websites have broadband 'enhancements'
in addition to the traditional static content, which is
faster to display and download. These sites offer optional
extras for users with higher access speeds without depriving
those with the slower connections of the core content.
Many news and entertainment websites are implementing
this by adding broadband-suitable content such as video
clips to accompany their news and stories. Those still
struggling with a 56kbps connection can also choose to
view the clips - which may take longer to download - or
they can do without it, as the clip is just an extra to
the news provided. These types of sites can appeal for
all connection types and if done correctly, it can also
optimize itself to the viewer's connection speed. On the
content providers' side, such sites will not only be easier
and less costly to maintain and update, it will also increase
hits to the sites as it is catering to users of varying
connection speeds.
As people's Internet connections improve so
will their expectations of web contents and their usage
of the net. But presently, the popularity of online video
and audio content is limited to countries with established
broadband access as the rest of the world still consumes
online content in the form of text and still images. |
